GOP leaders hit Quinn over possible $20 million 'slush fund'

The General Assembly's top two Republicans said they've found a mysterious $20 million appropriation that in their view looks suspiciously like the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative "slush fund" that already has the Quinn administration in legal and political hot water.

But Mr. Quinn's office says the money is going to train 5,000 youths to get jobs instead of getting into trouble.

The charges came today when the Legislature's GOP leaders, Sen. Christine Radogno and Rep. Jim Durkin, said at a Chicago news conference that they have increasing questions about a $20 million appropriation for the Department of Labor that showed up in a pending appropriations bill just days before lawmakers enacted Mr. Quinn's proposed fiscal 2015 budget in May.

Republicans received "no response" when they asked in committee and on the floor what the money was for and who would get it, Mr. Durkin said. "There was dead silence," he said, with even Democratic committee chairs professing ignorance.

The legislation that passed does say the money will be used to curb gang violence, specifically for "grants to state and local agencies and community providers for at-risk community support programs, after school programs, and youth employment opportunities."

SOME MONEY TRANSFERRED

But that language wasn't provided until after the vote, the Republican leaders said. And now, $5 million of the $20 million has been transferred to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and $6.5 million to the Department of Human Services."

"It sounds exactly like what happened four years ago," Mr. Durkin said, when NRI money ended up going to politically connected groups shortly before an election. "We don't want a repeat."

Added Ms. Radogno, "Gov. Quinn has squirreled away $20 million in taxpayer dollars in a way that looks and smells like NRI all over again."

A Quinn spokesman says it is being spent appropriately.

The money is going to a job-training program with "rigorous" standards that involves both DCEO and DHS, the spokesman said. "DCEO has for many years — long before the defunct NRI program began — run several job training programs for youth and young adults that continue today."

A source with knowledge of the matter said Mr. Quinn did not ask for the money and that it was inserted in the budget at the last minute at the behest of House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Mr. Madigan's spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.

Appropriating money for one department that ends up being spent by another is not unheard-of in government. But given the NRI experience, the subject is particularly sensitive now, with federal prosecutors confirming they are probing the MRI expenditures.